Lady Gaga's "LittleMonsters" site

So you want to gather a group of outrageously adoring fans in one location? Easy. Build a website! From her catchy pop-dance tunes to over-the-top extravagant outfits, Lady Gaga is anything but ordinary. What is the best word to describe Lady Gaga? According to fanpop.com, many users have said “unique”, “GAGA”, “GAGARIFIC”, “oddly awesome”, and my favorite: “f*cking mad”. Obviously, some of these exclamations are more than one word but…you get the point.

 Dubbed the reigning queen of Twitter with currently more than 24 million followers, Gaga has not only dominated this popular social media site (and surely populated many many fans through other social networking channels), but has also recently launched her own social site called “LittleMonsters”. How outrageous is that?!

But let’s take a stroll down Gaga history lane (I made that up) and dig deeper into “LittleMonsters”. You’re probably wondering why she chose such a discrete name for a website by now. I mean I never would’ve thought of that one!

For those who are not die-hard fans, the term “Little Monsters” may not sound familiar, otherwise you would already have called yourself a “Little Monster” (you will see why later on) and understood the term. In short, after working on her second album which took on the theme of monsters, Gaga started to address her fans as her “Little Monsters”, mainly because of all the screaming and crawling (oh, beloved fans) that they did during her live performances. She had also named herself “Mother Monster”, which you can find on her other social media sites like Twitter (mostly taken from Gagapedia: http://ladygaga.wikia.com/wiki/Little_Monsters). A more creative definition of a “Little Monster” on urban dictionary reads the following:

“Someone who lives and breathes Lady Gaga. We make clothes out of random household materials, spend hours learning her dances, and cry about how much we love her when we're drunk.

We're easily identifiable; the more extreme little monsters usually have white hair and crazy makeup, but every little monster can be distinguished from a crowd.

I acknowledge that we are all batshit crazy.”

This of course won over 258 thumbs up, showing how righteous this definition is to the public. I certainly approve, so technically it’s 260 thumbs up now (everyone has 2 thumbs, which is why it is an even number, aha!). Alas, the story behind the name of the “LittleMonsters” website. 

With social media being the most widely used form of communication between people from around the world, it is no wonder LittleMonsters is a great way to build a community site. With millions of loving fans from around the world, this newly launched site is a place that is exclusively dedicated to praising anything Gaga-related. What makes it so wonderful is that it’s not just any site—Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or whatever that is being used to serve as a bridge to post Gaga-related materials on, but LittleMonsters is officially Lady Gaga’s own site and fans can post right on the site without having to feel out of place. Without having to look for a fan-based group on Facebook for instance, posting on your own wall, or even on Gaga’s own Facebook site, you can simply post right on the LittleMonsters site comfortably and know that everyone in this community are all big fans just like you.

Creating a website such as LittleMonsters has both its benefits and downfalls. Although there are not many concerns when it comes to the limitations of a personal website, there are much more benefits that outweigh the downfalls in this situation.

The benefits for Gaga are that she has a community of fans (although not all is present or know about the site or don’t visit the site) that she can keep track of, she has a website that she can call her own and do whatever she likes with it, and most importantly, the site is a personal site that she can communicate with her fans privately, as if in her own house or territory, unlike some other social media sites that contains unwanted materials (ads) on the page which distracts the overall atmosphere of the visit, the user experience. The importance of a “personal” site versus simply being on a social media networking site that is and almost will always be created by someone else is largely different. This is mainly because these networking sites tend to be sponsored and supported by many other companies (meaning they help pay to keep the site up or offer goods) that want to plaster their names wherever they can on pages that people visit so that everyone knows who they are. Dully noted, there are even individual businesses that pay social networking sites to run ads through their pages so that they can spread the word about the amazing products and services that they have. Notice the random ads on the side of the pages yet?

The benefits for fans are that they have an environment to share and converse with one another all the things they love, have experienced, stumbled upon, or found interesting online that are Gaga-related. As human beings, we tend to be more comfortable around the people that we have more things in common with and so LittleMonsters provides an outlet for fans to express their unconditional love for their Mother Monster. “Little Monsters” (fans) have the basic features of posting in the news feed, following other little monsters, messaging, and commenting. More specific things that fans can do is post up pictures, videos, or news, engage in discussions, or participate in “open chats” found at the top right-hand corner of the screen, which allows you to either join existing little chat rooms or create a new room. These are just the many ways that users can participate on the site. Fans can also submit feedback of what they like and don’t like about the site and maybe even spread the word about the site so that others are aware or may even request to try out the site themselves too.

The only downfalls I see personally from this site is that it is still in beta-version, meaning that not everyone is able to sign up for an account in order to have access to the site immediately. I had to wait 20 days before the Admin invited me to go on the site after I had sent in a request prior to that. Being in beta also means that the website still has some testing that needs to be done, mainly to figure out what content or tools needs to be adjusted or changed based on how the current group of people are using it and what sorts of feedback the site is getting. Another downfall, more like an annoyance, is that the site is somewhat glitchy. I’ve noticed that when editing some materials in my profile, the site would totally break and freeze for a few moments to the point where I need to go back to another page then back in again to continue editing my information. 

A personal website such as LittleMonsters may also not serve the same purposes or have the same elements or entertainment choices that a social networking site like Facebook might have. LittleMonsters in comparison to other sites is a hybrid between Pinterest and Reddit, it is more for posting interesting materials (photos, videos, links, comments), getting up-votes, and having discussions. In comparison, Facebook may have other features other than posting material up—one can play games, build individual groups, create events or invitations, and many more. This doesn’t seem to be the problem for fans that strictly want to go on a site that will allow them to talk about their idol, however it may restrict what users can do on a website.

Aside from observing the basic pros and cons, LittleMonsters has focused on other social media strategies that ultimately help understand how to build a thriving community. With all of the support, followers, fans, and likes that Gaga has developed over the years, key points in Lady Gaga’s life has led her to this very day. You may have first noticed her as a pop-dance singer, perhaps from her “Just Dance” billboard-charting single, and as the years progressed, she released a few albums: “The Fame”, “The Fame Monster”, and just last year “Born This Way”. 

During the past few years, she had also built a reputation for being a rather odd, different, all the words mentioned earlier in the blog, kind of person. This statement that she makes with being different eventually made her a fashion icon, one that is quirky and wears avant garde (fashion terminology), meaning “pushing the boundaries” sort of experimental looks, in the media. If you haven’t paid much attention to how Lady Gaga looks, she most likely always wears something out of the ordinary, things that will get you saying either “WTF” or “Wow, now that’s something you don’t see everyday”.  Gaga’s strategy not only touches upon doing things away from the norm, but she is representative of all those that are seen as different in society, especially in her latest album “Born This Way”, where the overall theme of the album is to empower everyone to basically be happy for who they are.

The strategy to relate to people, especially in the current era that we live in, can certainly impact many important influencers in a way that will get them to talk about you through social media. When you gather enough life-long fans, that relationship will always remain there. This is what makes Gaga’s social media strategies so powerful is because she is one of the most independent, interesting (however strange) looking people out there that has the ability to capture, relate, and almost lead a generation of independent-hungry people out there that want to be different too.

The statements that Lady Gaga showcases in her attitude, songs, and fashion overall inspires other people to do the same and that is why she has no issues developing such a large fan base. Everyone simple loves what she does and what she represents. How a website is successful is quite dependent on it’s users and because Gaga is known world-wide, it makes it that much easier to create a personal website dedicated to her and her “Little Monsters”. There is absolute certainty that there will be people out there who would be more than willing to join a site such as Lady Gaga because she is just that famous! Well, other than fame, there are a lot of interesting things to talk about when it comes to Mother Monster, so having a social site herself would be no issue. Without people and without something to talk about, there wouldn’t be a social site in the first place. 

Mother Monster, you are definitely something to talk about. Paws up! (Since we're her Little Monsters, we don't have hands).